1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus which processes information relating to a predetermined object contained in a captured video and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus which allows a user to select a predetermined object contained in a captured video and displays information relating to the selected object.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a widely used technique, link information, such as a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) designating a particular resource over the Internet is embedded beforehand in a predetermined object contained in a video captured by a camera device, and a user selects the object having the link information embedded therewithin using a mouse, thereby accessing a resource designated by the URI of the link information.
For example, a URI as link information is embedded beforehand in an actually taken video of a shopping street showing buildings of stores, billboards, etc, to allow users to access Web pages on the Internet that may have been opened by each store owner. The user instantly gets information about each store by simply clicking on a store of interest on the screen of a computer. Using this system, the user may shop in a virtual space using an actual video.
The ease of use of the system is assured because the user operates the system by simply selecting an object in the video on the computer screen. With this technique, information is provided in response to the request of the user on the actual video in an interactive fashion. Reality is much more enhanced in comparison with information provided by a conventional Web page.
Since link information is manually embedded in a video captured by a camera device in a conventional system, workload imposed on an information provider is large. Costs involved in the embedding of the link information are pushed up.
When the position, the direction, and the angle of view of a camera device in use are modified, the location of the link information that is embedded is deviated from the actual object during image pickup. Each time the camera device is moved, the position of the embedded link information needs manually adjusting. Because of this, the view point of the camera device cannot be freely modified. The video, picked up from a stationary position, lacks realistic sensations, and may be monotonous to the users.